Norman Yakeleya

I ask the Minister to also consider the complexities of NGOs when they have to request for funding, administer the funding and report the funding. One instance in the Sahtu where the band was running the drug and alcohol programs, there was so many complexities and the band did not have much support so they gave the money over to the GNWT and things changed in the funding and support and benefits. Would the Minister look at how to work with the small communities to have simpler programs to report and administer while staying within the guidelines to abide by the funding criteria for NGOs?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the NGOs in the Northwest Territories. According to my information, there are 472 in the Northwest Territories. We spend about $20 million on NGOs and certainly these NGOs do a lot of hard work and there’s a number of NGOs around the Northwest Territories. As a matter of fact, I mentioned that there are 219 in Yellowknife and there’s nothing in the Sahtu. I wanted to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services how she can help the Sahtu communities, the health boards, the communities or the bands to establish NGO programs and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister of ENR about the issue with the Yellowknives Dene and the news he had yesterday. I want to follow up, this being the last day of the House. I want to ask where the deal is with the Yellowknives Dene. Are they closed or still ongoing?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do want to say to the mines that I appreciate them choosing Norman Wells as a pickup point for the workers coming out of the Sahtu. I want to ask the Minister about new development going forward on diamond mine training. Could he look at one community in the Sahtu bringing in new training programs in the next couple of months to develop a program that would have the NWT mining society work with the Aurora College to look at programs they could have in the Sahtu region?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up with the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Minister did indicate to the House that March is National Nutrition Month. I want to ask the Minister in terms of going back to the issue of having traditional foods at the Stanton Territorial Hospital and other facilities. I want to ask the Minister in terms of instructing her officials to start looking at possible ways of having the traditional foods such as fish, for example, starting to be served at the hospital for clients who are of aboriginal descent who are at the hospital...

Will the Minister implement a program which supports low-income earners without coverage so that these people and their families can get assistance with the cost of their drugs, visits to the dentist and costs of eyeglasses?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health and Social Services. I want to ask her questions on the Extended Health Benefits Program. I want to ask the Minister what the total costs are of the existing Extended Health Benefits Program.

In terms of showing some progress in the near future, is there a time frame between the two parties and seeing if we can come to an arrangement that is satisfactory that would put this issue to rest until a long-term solution is found?

I look forward to if there is any type of update the Minister can give later on.

Mr. Speaker, I spoke to the chair of the Elders Council, Mr. Paulette, and he said that they are very much in support of this. Actually, after we had our discussion here in the House, Mr. Paulette called me and said that the jam is in terms of the bureaucracy in the system and how to get this traditional food into the system. So that’s why I’m asking the Minister if she can have some discussions with her officials to clear the way to get the issue of the fish into the hospitals, in terms of probably within a month...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Interesting response in terms of the health benefits. In my Member’s statement I talked about the various programs the federal government has for aboriginal people, the GNWT has for the Metis people, and now we’re talking about the non-aboriginal health benefits here. I would like to ask the Minister, if we don’t do anything, would these benefits that are extended exceed the other benefits that people have such as the ones that we’re talking about, the ones who do have the ability to pay. That’s what I’m looking at in this program here. Will that exceed what the...